| This thesis has analyzed a small group of country houses, ten built and five that remained projects, designed by Eugene Emmanuel Viollet-le-Duc from 1853 to 1879 in France and Switzerland. Varying greatly in plan, form, style and materials, the houses nonetheless display a common sensitivity to siting, plan types adapted from historical precedent, and respect for regional forms. Four chapters discuss the cultural, political and formal development of his work as a country house architect through close analysis of archival and published sources, as well as extant buildings. His family upbringing and early education in a republican school formed the basis for his love of nature, respect for the individual, advocacy of the single family house, and anti-urban tendencies. The second, third and fourth chapters are arranged by building type: the aristocratic chateau, the bourgeois maison de campagne, and the modern vernacular villa. His country houses usually begin with the Gothic Revival style, but often evolve into more French Renaissance, early seventeenth century classical, or even vernacular inspired designs. The social ambiguity of each building type, with confusion over nomenclature, was typical of the Second Empire and Third Republic in France. |
